[SDCBC] Oregon bicycle laws for the California-bred?

[John Eldon]

Mike, my readings of the postings in BIkeforums.net's Advocacy and Safety threads tell me that Oregon's cyclists tend to be more separatist than California's -- for better or worse, Portland has introduced us blue pavement zones, bike boxes, etc. The next time I visit my cousin in Corvallis, I am sure a bike ride will be on his agenda, and I would plan to ride in my normal "timid vehicular" style, watching for any motorists who are expecting something different. 

Good luck with the move,

John E.

--- On Fri, 6/13/08, Mike Elliott <camping.elliott at gmail.com> wrote:
From: Mike Elliott <camping.elliott at gmail.com>
Subject: [SDCBC] Oregon bicycle laws for the California-bred?
To: "Sdcbc" <sdcbc at bikesandiego.org>
Date: Friday, June 13, 2008, 8:18 AM

My wife and I are moving to Bend, Oregon, this summer. Today's issue of 
the local Bend paper (the Bend Bulletin) has an article about how more 
people are wanting to ride bikes these days,* and that they are 
discovering that a lot of roads lack amenities such as bike lanes, or are 
scary narrow to ride on. As a native Californian, I know my rights and 
responsibilities w/r/t riding in traffic, and don't mind taking the lane 
when conditions warrant it, but reading the article made me consider that 
what I know about the CVC might not apply to the OVC. Here's the 
bicycle/pedestrian portions of the Oregon Vehicle Code:

http://www.massbike.org/bikelaw/oregon.htm

Near as I can tell, my riding habits don't need to change: same 
responsibilities and rights as a motorized vehicle (within reason), take 
the lane when you need to, signal, etc. But before I act all knowledgeable 
and say that to my wife, I'd probably do well to ask folks here to point 
out anything that might get your average California road bikie into 
trouble up there.


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